Cliffhangers
by Ackleholic89
Summary: Contains spoilers for "Bad News." Set right after the episode ends. The bad news in question affects every one differently.  Relationships will begin, strengthen, weaken and fall apart. Who will be left standing when the smoke clears?
1. Introduction

Welcome to my first How I Met Your Mother fanfiction.

This idea popped in my head after seeing "Bad News" and I had to write it down. It's my take on what happens after the episode ends. There will definitely be six chapters to the story, but since it's not done, I may end up adding a 7th. I was going to wait until I was finished writing it, but I didn't want the next episode to air and discredit everything I said would happen before I even post the story.

Also, let me go ahead and apologize in advance for any mistakes I make regarding small details that may have been mentioned in previous episodes that I may have overlooked, and for anything regarding planes and flight procedures that I get wrong being that in my 21 years of life I've never flown because flying scares the crap out of me.

OH! And I don't own HIMYM. If I did... well... then next week's episode would look a lot like this:

_INTRODUCTION_

_Kids, in January of 2011, your Uncle Marshall received the worst news of his life up until that point._

"Something's happened..." Lily said, on the verge of tears. "Your dad had a heart attack... he didn't make it."

"My dad's dead?" Marshall uttered in disbelief. Lily nodded, unable to form words. Lily leaned in to give Marshall a hug and he held her in his arms as his emotions spilled over.

_But something I've learned is that there is a master plan. Yes, Uncle Marshall's dad's death was very sad but in a way it was the best thing that could have happened to our group. _

_The funeral was about 2 weeks later..._

Marshall sat on the end of the first row and Lily sat next to him on his right. Every time Marshall would turn his attention back to the minister, tears would threaten to spill over, but then he would look over at Lily and smile would break out across both of their faces.

The always strong Robin Sherbatsky sat on the other side of Lily, feeling particularly weak that day. She had more tissues balled up next to her than Marshall and Lily did combined. Barney, who was sitting on the other side of Robin, noticed a new wave of tears flood Robin's eyes. He put his left hand on her leg and she let out a small sob as she looked over at him. He removed his hand from her leg and swung his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, her head falling onto his shoulder then he placed his other hand on top of hers.

Ted was nowhere to be seen.

_Now kids, there are four parts to this story: The Marshall and Lily part, the Robin part, the Barney part, and my part. Let's start with Marshall and Lily..._


	2. Marshall and Lily

_MARSHALL AND LILY_

"We've got to get home. We need to pack and go to St. Cloud. I have to be with my mom right now." Marshall's mind was running so fast with all of the things he needed to do that he did not notice Ted standing behind him.

"Marshall," Marshall spun around to face Ted. "What's going on?" Ted asked his best friend, concern written all over his face.

Marshall fought back more tears and his lip quivered as he tried to find his voice. "It's my dad." He finally got out and grabbed Ted for a hug. Ted's mouth hung open in shock and he looked over Marshall's shoulder at Lily silently asking her if Marshall's dad would be alright.

Lily just shook her head 'no'.

Ted closed his eyes and patted his friends back. "Look," he finally spoke up. "You guys do what you need to do. I'll let Barney and Robin know what's going on."

Marshall let go and nodded. He and Lily got back into the cab that Lily came in. She had asked the driver to wait for them, knowing that they would be going back to the apartment, or at least not staying at the bar.

Two hours later they were at the airport in line to get tickets. Finally they were next. Marshall ran up to the lady behind the desk. "Hi, I need two seats on the next flight to Minneapolis."

The lady, Lynn, as her nametag read, typed quickly. "It looks as if a plane just left the gate, the next one isn't for another five and a half hours."

"Five and a half-" Marshall started but stopped and suddenly became very agitated, raising his voice, "Look, tell them to turn around! I need to be on that plane!"

"Sir-" Lynn tried, but Marshall quickly interrupted her.

"No! You don't understand! My dad is dead! My mom is in St. Cloud, which is about two hours away from Minneapolis plus the two hour flight! I can't wait 9 hours! I need to be with her now! So you get on the damn phone with the damn pilot and tell him to turn the damn plane around so my wife and I can get on!"

The whole airport went silent. You could hear a pin drop. People walking to their gates had even stopped to witness Marshall's explosion. Lily, who only stood back shocked at her husband's outburst, calmly and softly and put her hand on his shoulder.

Marshall took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He apologized to Lynn.

Lynn nodded, on the verge of tears herself from having just been yelled at. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Marshall nodded in return before Lily patted his shoulder and said, "Go sit down. I'll take care of it."

Marshall walked sluggishly over to a bench, not noticing (or not caring to notice) the many looks he was receiving. Some were sympathetic, others were accusatory.

Lily showed up at his side a few minutes later and they went to get their luggage and everything squared away.

"So we've got about four and half hours to kill before they start loading." Lily announced when everything had been taken care of. "What do you want to do?" she raised her eyebrows slightly.

Marshall managed a half smile. "Thanks for the gesture, baby, but I don't think sex will make me feel any better."

Lily nodded, but then suddenly realized, she'd never heard how Marshall's doctor visit went. "Wait, Marshall, did you find out anything at the doctor's office?"

"Oh yeah! I'm fine. 100% healthy."

"Marshall, that's great news!"

"Yeah...I was calling my dad when..." His voice trailed off. Lily put her hand on his thigh in support. "Look, I was thinking. When we do have a baby. I think we should name him after my dad."

"I think that's a great idea, Marshall." Lily said with a smile. "But, what if we have a girl?"

Marshall scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Lily...please." Lily let out a small laugh, grateful that her Marshmallow hadn't lost all sense of humor. "But, _if_ we have a girl...Marvine or Marvina could be an okay substitute." Lily smiled and rested her head on Marshall's shoulder, both staring out thinking about their future child. "Hey, baby, how long do we have? About four hours?"

"Eh, four and a quarter." she replied. "Why?"

Marshall raised his eyebrows and Lily smiled devilishly.

The next week and a half were days that Marshall and Lily never wanted to be repeated. The funeral was originally planned for three days after Marshall's dad's death, but one thing after another happened and the date kept getting pushed back. First, the autopsy that Marvin's doctor suggested to Mrs. Erikson took longer than expected. The doctor only suggested it because Marvin had always seemed pretty healthy and he was concerned there may have been some sort of hereditary defect that he'd never noticed before. It just turned out Marvin ate too much red meat.

Then, when they finally got the body back, among other things, there was some argument over whether he wanted to be cremated or not. "It's just like your father to leave that important factor out of his will." Judy told her boys.

This then prompted one of Marshall's brothers to turn on Marshall saying, "Weren't you his lawyer? Why didn't you make him put it in there?"

Marshall rubbed his temples. "I thought he did. He was talking about what he would leave Marcus, then he started talking about how Marcus had that frog that he accidentally set on fire and how it was so easy to get rid of him. He said he wanted to be cremated and a little piece of him be given to all of us. Then I told him to write it down."

There was silence before Marvin Jr. spoke up and said, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. A little of him for everybody? Really? Dad would never say anything like that."

"Yes he did!" And the yelling started up again. Lily groaned and laid her head back on the kitchen table. Lily, Ashley, Marcus's wife, and Marvin Jr.'s wife, Alexa had all been stuck in the kitchen for most of the day while their husbands and mother-in-law were arguing in the living room.

"All of this yelling is giving me a terrible headache." Lily whined.

"Yeah, and if they don't stop it, they're going to wake the kids and then our headaches will be ten times worse." Ashley said with impatience. Ashley and Marcus had welcomed their first child, Zack, into the world in 2006, followed by Andrew in 2008, Treavor in 2009, and now she was four months pregnant with twins.

"Yeah, be happy you guys don't have any kids yet, Lily." Alexa said absentmindedly as she rubbed her temples. Alexa was the one who had her son at Thanksgiving in 2005 and was already pregnant with the second. And third and fourth. Only they didn't know that at the time. Marvin Jr. and Alexa had decided to keep with the 'M' tradition his parents had started so Michael was their firstborn, the triplets were Mason, Martin(or Marty for short), and Mel, short for Melvin. It was until last year that Alexa even let Marvin Jr. come near her in fear that she would get pregnant again. Now she was 9 months pregnant with what she hoped would be the last one, a girl whom they decided to name Makayla.

Lily knew that Alexa's comment shouldn't have been taken badly, but it got her thinking. Between Ashley and Alexa's kids that were already here and ones that would be born in the near future they could have a basketball tournament between the two families, and she and Marshall didn't have any. Alexa didn't even want another baby, but she had no problems getting pregnant. Why was it so hard for Lily?

"Lily, are you okay?" Ashley asked. It wasn't until then, that Lily even realized she was crying, and the more she tried to stop, the more tears that flowed. Her whole body was convulsing with each sob she let out. Ashley got up from the table and waddled over to the door that opened to the living room. "Marshall?" All of a sudden the loud yelling that was coming from the other room ceased and all that could be heard were Lily's cries.

"Lily?" Marshall said with concern. He quickly got up from where he was sitting and ran to kneel beside the chair Lily was sitting in. "Baby?" He asked. Lily could say anything, she just threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. Ashley and Alexa quietly snuck out of the kitchen and into the living room to give Marshall and Lily their privacy. Marshall softly rubbed Lily's back in small circles. "Baby, what's wrong?"

It took Lily a minute to finally get her emotions back in order long enough to sniffle out "I'm sick."

"Sick?" Marshall was partly confused, and partly concerned. "Are you nauseous? Do you need to lay down?"

"No!" Lily said, and sniffled again and tried to wipe the tears off of her face. "I'm sick of _this_. I'm sick of not being pregnant. I'm sick of your brothers having entire basketball teams when we can't even offer them a substitute player. I'm sick of this kitchen. I've been stuck in here for the past week and a half while you all are in there yelling about cremation and who stole your favorite pen in the 9th grade. I'm sick of the yelling! I'm sick of St. Cloud. I want to just go back to New York. And I'm sick of crying, because the crying is making me sick."

"Wow...I-"

"No, Marshall move, I'm seriously going to be sick." Lily pushed Marshall out of the way and ran to the bathroom barely making it to the toilet before emptying the contents of her stomach. She felt her husband's large hands pulling back her hair and rubbing her back again.

Lily slowly leaned back against the cool tile walls, pulling her knees up, as Marshall positioned himself the same way. "Are you okay now?" He asked her.

Lily took a few deeps, shaky breaths before closing her eyes and nodding. "Yeah. I'm fine now. I'm sorry I just exploded like that. I didn't even realize I was crying at first, but once I started I couldn't stop. I'm just stressed out over everything."

"That's the last thing I want for you. You shouldn't stress out over this stuff. As far as the baby stuff goes, we're both healthy. It'll happen when it's ready to happen. And as far as the funeral stuff goes, leave that up to me, my brothers, and my mom and if we don't come to a conclusion by the end of the night, then you can go back to New York."

"No, Marshall, I wouldn't go without you. I'd rather sleep next to you in St. Cloud, than without you in New York."

Marshall smiled. "That's why I love you.'

Lily smiled back and kissed him before Marshall pulled away with a disgusted look on his face. "It still kind of tastes like vomit."

"Oh, sorry!"

Luckily for both of them, by the time they exited the bathroom, Marvin Jr., Marcus and Judy had all come to the conclusion that a little piece of Marvin for everybody was a nice sentiment. And although they were happy that the yelling would be over for awhile before the next crisis came along, the three wives shared a look of horror at having a piece of their dead father-in-law somewhere in their house.

Soon after the decision for cremation was made, they decided to have the wake on Friday, which would give them that night and all day Thursday to let his friends and other family know. Then have the funeral on Saturday, or memorial service rather since after the wake they would send the body off to the crematorium.

Lily hung up the phone and announced to Marshall, "Nobody can make it to the memorial service!" _More on that later. _"Ted said he'd come to the wake though." Lily sniffled.

"Oh, baby. You're not going to cry again are you?"

"No." Lily said tearfully.

"Lily!" Marshall said with slight smile as he got up and walked across the room to sit next to his wife. "It's fine!"

"I just wanted everyone to be there for you and nobody can come!" Tears were freely falling down her face at this point.

"Baby, I don't care if everybody else is there. I didn't expect them to be able to come on such short notice anyway. All I care about is that you'll be there sitting next to me." Lily sniffled again as she nodded, then laid her head on Marshall's shoulder.

The next day went by far too slowly for Lily and Marshall. The most exciting part of their night was when Ted walked into the funeral home talking quickly on the phone.

"Look, just hold on. Hold on just one second. Don't go anywhere." He said into the phone then brought it down to his side and looked up at Marshall and Lily and solemnly said. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thanks, Ted." Marshall said sincerely.

Ted nodded then turned and said into the phone "Are you still there? What do you mean?" Ted quickly signed the book to prove he had in fact shown up the popped his head up suddenly. "No! Don't do that! Look, I'm on my way, just don't do anything stupid and whatever you do, do not get on that plane!" He hung up and said just loud enough for Lily and Marshall to hear, "Why is that not the first time I've said that this week?" before walking back out the doors.

This led to a guessing game of who he was talking to and who else had he told not to get on a plane and why. Marshall liked to believe Ted had some kind of "Final Destination" vision, although he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

When they got home, Marshall and his brothers decided to play some video games.

"Do you want to come with us?" Marshall asked his wife as they both changed into more comfortable clothing.

"Nah, I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'm not feeling so hot." Lily told him.

"Okay." Marshall kissed the top of Lily's head and said. "Goodnight."

"Night." Lily smiled after him. After the door closed, she went through her nightly routine and was just about to climb into bed when there was a knock at her door. She opened it to see Ashley and Alexa standing there. "Hey, girls." Lily said with a confused look on her face. "What's up?"

"We got you something." Ashley said, then held out her hand. In it was a box. Lily picked it up and read the outside.

"A pregnancy test?"

"Think about it, Lily." Alexa started. "The crying-"

"I've been stressed-"

"The nausea-" Ashley offered.

"That was only because I cried so hard I made myself sick-."

"The headaches." Alexa said matter-of-factly.

"That was from the yelling, and besides that, we all had headaches."

Ashley and Alexa exchanged looks and glances at their round stomachs.

"Umm," Ashley started. "Have you seen us lately?"

Lily shrugged with a look of 'well, you got me there.' "But, just because I've had headaches and nausea and I've been emotional, doesn't mean I'm pregnant. There are other explanations."

"But it doesn't mean you aren't either." Ashley said. "Look, just take the test. You'll never know unless you do."

"Even if the test is positive, I've had a false positive before I'm not going to trust just one."

"Which is why," Alexa started as she pulled out a plastic bag from behind her back. "We got you three more."

Lily looked in the bag and at the test in her hand. "I don't know how I'll be able to generate enough pee for all of these."

About an hour and several glasses of water later, Ashley came to the edge of the stairs and called for Marshall.

"Hold on, I-"

"Hurry!."

Marshall quickly paused the game and bolted up the stairs as Ashley quickly explained what they had done.

When they opened the door they found Lily with a look of many emotions on her face.

"Well?" Marshall asked.

Lily shook her head. And for a moment Marshall's heart dropped before Lily added "I haven't looked yet. I was waiting for you."

"We'll leave you two alone." Alexa said, and she and Ashley left the room closing the door behind them.

"Well what are you waiting for let's look!" Marshall said with excitement.

"Marshall, wait."

A look of concern appeared on his face as he said, "Why? What's wrong?"

"It's just..." Lily sighed. "I was fine with not being pregnant. I mean, before I wasn't, but now I am. Or I was. And sure, the symptoms crossed my mind, but I convinced myself there were other reasons, and even if I am pregnant, it's possible that it's still those other reasons. But, then Ashley and Alexa came in here convinced that I am pregnant and I think, 'you know, they've had a lot of kids. If anybody would see the signs it'd be them.' So, now they've got my hopes up and I don't know what I'll do if they're wrong."

"I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll probably be sad for a little bit. But then, you'll remember that that's at least nine months and one more day that you won't have to share me."

Lily giggled. "You always put a smile on my face when I look at you."

"Ditto."

"Let's do this." Lily said holding out her hand. Marshall grasped her hand in his and together they walked into the bathroom.


End file.
